The performance on 1st July was a real treat for all admirers of Witold Gombrowicz. Studio Teatru Fizycznego, working with Śląski Teatr Tańca in Bytom, presented the play “Elektrokosmos”. The name of the show is a linguistic play on words - a combination of two words: “Kosmos” ( universe) – the last novel of Witold Gombrowicz, published in 1965, and “elektro” - the prefix from the electricity power station where the play was presented.

It started so innocently: on the improvised stage, a girl in scout’s uniform came out. The eyes of the audience, full of desire for something new and fresh were completely lost in the muddle of clothes hanging on washing lines. Suddenly there was a noise in the room – a mechanism, constructed from a few people, started up. With more and more intense, cacophonous voices, the actors began to make more expressive movements. Their dance seemed to be a psychedelic frenzy, referring to elements of trance, so characteristic of African dance. Their stage behaviour was perfectly suitable for Julian Tuwim's poem- „Mieszkańcy”

When the spectators thought that their neurasthenic movements seemed to have no end, the music changed, the lights faded and there was only one motionless person on stage: the personification of Gombrowicz’s Hero, an alter ego of Józio( Ferdydurke). Making grimaces as if he was fighting a duel of facial expressions with himself. The show was interrupted by a frightening voice telling us about the death of David who turned out to be a cat, the animal hanging from a hook. However, preserving classical tragedy conventions, the spectators, like earlier ones, received that message from a courier. This information lead to a change in the hero’s behaviour - . it was the moment of psychological projection, reproaching oneself.

Movements inspired by words turned into psychedelic dance again. Remorse caused by the murder of the cat was expressed by gesture. Suddenly there was a silence, the stage was full of girls adopting a pose and then a duel of laughter. Giggling is the method of world construction used by Gombrowicz, “Pamiętniki z okresu dojrzewania”. The main character of the show is not capable of resisting remorse, so he begins to make fun of the world but, trying not to lose touch with the real world, he lists objects from everyday life which are keywords in his life. The performance ended with expressive dance, providing an arch structure for the work.

The level of the show is really high and even the great deconstructor himself would be proud of the result. The final musical strand of the Slovenian group, „The Stroj”, with sounds of hammering metal, can be associated with finding your own future.
This fascinating presentation by Studio Teatru Fizycznego attracted many positive comments from members of the the audience.

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